Trophy Whitetail Deer Hunting : Two Common Mistakes You Don’t Want to Make

Avoid these common mistakes in trophy whitetail deer hunting and you might just bag the buck of a lifetime

If you’ve been a hunter for any amount of time, you’ve probably noticed that trophy whitetail deer hunting isn’t particularly easy. Taking a mature buck is an entirely different ballgame. These deer have lived to old age for a reason. They don’t make mistakes often and they don’t tolerate your mistakes as a hunter. Outlined below are two very common hunter mistakes when hunting trophy whitetail deer. Don’t do these and you should be seeing big bucks more often. Why shoot yourself in the foot, right?

Hunting the wrong wind

Sometimes a hunter finds a perfect stand location. No, the perfect stand location. And it an ambush spot to beat all. There’s a mature buck walking by every five minutes – he just knows it. This ultimate setup could be a new find, or maybe it was discovered some time ago and has performed very well for years. Regardless, this is the stand that you’ll most likely see that hunter parked in just about every day of the season. And if the hunter isn’t in this stand all the time, then he’s thinking about it when he’s not there.

Now this is where a perfect setup often goes wrong. Let’s say this spot is located in a funnel between bedding and feeding areas. It’s common to see a hunter so enthused about a particular stand location that he’ll hunt that spot even when the wind is blowing right into the bedding area, for instance. Either he’s not taking wind into consideration at all, or he believes the spot is so good he’ll still see lots of action even when his scent is blowing straight into the deer. The hunter might get lucky, but odds are great that any mature bucks in the area will thank him for his stupidity. A good trophy hunter picks his stands according to the wind. And he will have multiple stand setups because he knows wind is fickle. When the wind changes in one location, he has other options available to him. And he never compromises. If the wind isn’t right for one spot, then he’s not hunting it, period.

Heading to the truck for lunch

It’s common to see hunters steadfastly getting into their stands before dawn only to look at their watch at noon and noisily head back to a warm truck for lunch. The belief is that deer move mostly in the mornings and evenings and that they’re bedded down during the day. This belief can hurt your chances for a trophy deer, especially during the rut. Whitetail bucks chase does throughout the night, and tend to bed down in the morning for a brief rest. They then get up at mid-day (while most hunters are in their trucks eating lunch) and start chasing does again. If you’re goal is to take a trophy whitetail deer, then be prepared to eat your lunch in your stand. Serious whitetail hunters are in the woods all day. Mid-day is my favorite time to hunt as I’ve seen my biggest bucks at that time. Put a comfortable cushion in your stand and see if an all-day vigil doesn’t improve your success!

Kick your trophy whitetail deer hunting up a notch

You’ve learned two common mistakes for hunting big bucks. Now arm yourself with all the knowledge you need to make this a trophy buck year you won’t forget.